Get ready for the 17th Annual Portland Old Time Gathering!

Good morning, welcome to Viking Twang Episode 72. My name is Randy Black; happy to be with you as always!

There’s a very cool event happening in town this week: the 17th annual Portland Old-Time Gathering; put on by Bubbavile, the organization formed by the late Bill Martin to promote traditional string band music.

It lasts from Wednesday to Sunday in a number of venues, mostly at the Tiffany Center at 1410 S.W. Morrison Street, right across the freeway from the Crystal Ballroom. In addition to workshops, square dances, and lots of jamming, there are great musicians playing. You can get the whole schedule at http://bubbaguitar.com/gathering/.

We’ll preview the Gathering, starting out on Wednesday night at the Spare Room, with our favorite married couple from Seattle, Squirrel Butter.

1 – Turkey Red; W.C. Beck & the Portland Country Underground.
2 – Tennessee Dog; Squirrel Butter. Charmaine Slaven and Charlie Beck, from their 2015 album, Chestnuts. Charmaine’s part of a calling workshop on Saturday morning, and leads a flatfooting workshop that afternoon.
3 – San Andreas’ Fault; The Earnest Lovers. That’s Pete Krebs and Leslie Beia; they’re at the Spare Room Wednesday.
4 – Fourth Of July at the County Fair; that’s another married couple, W.B. Reid and Bonnie Zahnow, who lead the old-time jam session at the Moon and Sixpence Thurday.
5 – Home; The Onlies. A trio of teenagers from Seattle who are playing at the Tiffany Center on Friday night; from their new album, Long Before Light.

Second Set:
We’re going to continue now with more of the festivities from Friday night at the Tiffany Center. Caleb Klauder and Reeb Williams are all over the festival this year; here they are together.

6 – Can I Sleep In Your Barn Tonight Mister; Reeb Williams and Caleb Klauder. A Charlie Poole song from 1925; Reeb and Caleb recorded it for their 2012 album, Oh Do You Remember.
7 – Sad Story; Helena and Jimmy Triplett. Jimmy plays the fiddle with his wife at the 50th Annual West Virginia State Folk Festival. Jimmy closes the show Friday night.
8 – Someday Soon; Annalisa Tornfelt. This version of the Ian Tyson song is from Annalisa’s 2015 album, Search Zero. She’s leading a kid’s open mike first thing Saturday morning.
9 – And Am I Born to Die; The Macrae Sisters, from their 2008 album, Old Sledge. Marian Macrae Herrman leads a song session workshop Saturday afternoon.
10 – Caleb’s Lament; Caleb Klauder, on the mandolin, from his post-Calobo 2000 album, Sings Out. He leads a mandolin workshop Saturday afternoon.
11 – Groundhog; Red Yarn. This Portland-based group of musicians and puppeteers are leading a kid’s concert Saturday afternoon.
12 – Stumptown Stomp; Spencer and Rains. From their latest album, The Old Texas Fiddle, Vol. II. Tricia Spencer is from Kansas, Howard Rains from Texas; they’re giving a Texas fiddle workshop Saturday morning and closing the show that night.

Third Set:
We head into Saturday night’s series showcase concerts at the Tiffany Center. Here’s our friends Aarun and Jonathan to kick it off:

13 – More Cotton Pickin’ Fun; Aarun Carter and Jonathan Trawick. The Portland duo and couple from their 2014 album, Deep End Sessions, Vol. 1.
14 – Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho; Jane Rothfield. The fiddler and clawhammer banjo player follows Aarun and Jonathan. This is from her 2010 album, I Fiddle The Banjo.
15 – Paddy Won’t You Drink; The Carolina Rowdies. Former Flat Mountain Girl – and last year’s Bubba Award winner – Carolyn Oakley does the calling on this medley of dance tunes, with Pete Leone on the banjo, Gabrielle Macrae on the fiddle, and Katy Harris on bass.
16 – Travelin’ Blues; The Hi-O Revelers. That’s Katy Harris and Devin Champlin from Bellingham; they’ll be playing a square dance with caller Maggie Lind.
17 – True Life Blues; The Barn Owls. A Bill Monroe song made famous by Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard. The Owls play for the final square dance Saturday, with Suzanne Giradot doing the calling. They’re an old-time trio from Seattle, with Katy Harris joining them on bass.
18 – Huckleberry Blues; Foghorn Stringband. A traditional song from their 2003 debut, Rattlesnake Tidal Wave. Former Foghorn members Kevin Sandri, Brian Bagdonis, and Pete Leone join Caleb and Reeb in what they call the Foghorn Mashup at the Moon & Sixpence Sunday night.
19 – Twang Theme; Countrypolitans; Tired of Drowning.